Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2021, Instructional Technology (Education)

The purpose of this study is to explore AI tutors in formal and informal learning settings through quantitative methods. Also, this study sought to understand the benefits and limitations of AIS in different learning contexts at Ohio University. This study followed a quantitative approach and collected data from participants (n=28) through a Qualtrics XM survey. Participants of this study represent teachers who have teaching experience and use any commercial brand of artificial intelligence speakers (AIS). All the interval data collected was analyzed through descriptive statistics that included the mean standard deviation; other non-interval data collected was analyzed using frequencies. The study results showed that student teachers who were familiar with and used AIS had a positive perception of the usage of AIS for learning contexts, classroom settings, privacy and security, and interaction. Limitations and suggestions for further research of this study are discussed.

Committee: Greg Kessler (Committee Chair); Gene Geist (Committee Member); Min Lun Wu (Committee Member); Krisanna Machtmes (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Technology; Information Technology; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2020, College of Education and Human Services

The culture of policing is rooted in a warrior ethos of preserving order against chaos and criminality in a hostile world. This ethos may be negatively influencing community relations. A guardian mindset encourages community engagement, fostering trust, and building allies within the community. The purpose of this grounded theory study is to understand in the context of strained relationships between Communities of Color and police, how officers develop their knowledge, skills, and experiences to become guardians in the communities they serve. This research considers: 1) what is the process of developing patrol officers that are competent in community relations within an urban context; 2) what knowledge and skills are expected of patrol officers to be competent in community relations within an urban context share; 3) what formal education and informal experiences contribute to a patrol officer's knowledge and skills in community relations within an urban context. Twenty-four police leaders, police officers, and trainers representing five police departments and training facilities located in diverse urban populations in Northeast Ohio participated in semi-structured interviews. Four community leaders and public safety organizers also participated in interviews. The theoretical model identifies departmental and individual barriers and facilitators that influence the professional development of officers relevant to community relations.

Committee: Catherine Hansman (Committee Chair); Anne Galletta (Committee Member); Ronnie Dunn (Committee Member); Jonathan Messemer (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Criminology; Public Policy

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, EDU Policy and Leadership

Mobile technology and online engagement have rapidly increased in access and use and have become embedded aspects of students' daily lives (personal, social, and academic) due to ubiquity and capability for personalized online interactions; and may have a positive or negative effect on students' use across formal and informal learning environments and students' overall academic success. The purpose of this study was to examine and explore the frequency of students' use of mobile technology for academic and non-academic purposes as well as frequency of students' online engagement in non-academic activities across formal and informal learning environments (e.g. while in class, while studying, and during personal leisure time) and their overall relationship to students' self-regulation & metacognitive tendencies and academic achievement/success. In addressing this purpose five groups of research question were developed. To inform my investigation of post-secondary students' mobile technology use, I developed a conceptual framework that connects three fields of study: (a) Educational technology, (b) Educational psychology, and (c) Student engagement in higher education. The conceptual framework was informed by Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory and triadic reciprocal causality model which was developed focusing on personal, behavioral, and environmental factors that constantly interact and influence one another. This study is among the first to explore connections between these various areas and factors in regards to students' mobile technology use and online engagement across formal and informal learning environments. Participants consisted of 604 students from a large Midwestern university. I developed the Student Mobile Technology Experience (SMTE) Survey. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, one-, two-, and three-way ANOVAs, and various factorial repeated measures ANOVAs (p < 0.05). Significant correlation (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Anika Anthony (Advisor); Richard Voithofer (Committee Member); Kui Kui (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Educational Psychology; Educational Technology; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Information Technology; Instructional Design

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2009, ED Physical Activities and Educational Services

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of formal learning, personal characteristics, and work environment characteristics on informal learning among middle managers in the Korean banking sector. The conceptual framework identified three factors influencing informal learning. For this study, data collection was conducted in the Korean Banking Institute (KBI) to prepare employees who were working in the banking sector which has been characterized as one of the fastest changing industries in Korea. Thus, middle managers as a population were selected due to their various experiences in both formal and informal learning. The collected data was analyzed using structural equation modeling, correlation analysis, descriptive analysis, and thematic analysis to answer seven research questions. The results of this study showed that the conceptual model representing three factors as influencing factors on informal learning reasonably fit the data from middle managers with a slightly modified structural equation model. Based on the modified model, the results were: 1) formal learning significantly affects informal learning, 2) personal characteristics significantly affect informal learning, 3) work environments do not directly affect informal learning, but they indirectly affect through formal learning, and 4) both personal and work environment characteristics affect formal learning. The results also showed that middle managers engage in various informal learning, even though self-experimentation is the most frequently used type of the three types of informal learning. The consequences resulting from engaging in informal learning were the acquisition of work-related knowledge and skills, individual development, and the development of interpersonal skills. The results support the conclusions that two forms of workplace learning are interrelated and, in particular, informal learning is enhanced by managers who have well-organized knowledge and skills. If manag (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ronald Jacobs (Advisor); Josua Hawley (Committee Member); Raymond Noe (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2009, ED Physical Activities and Educational Services

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among investment in workplace learning, organizational perspective on human resource development (HRD), organizational outcomes of workplace learning, and organizational performance using the 2005 and 2007 Human Capital Corporate Panel (HCCP) surveys in Korean companies. The conceptual model proposed that investment in workplace learning was assumed to influence organizational outcomes of workplace learning, which affect in turn organizational financial performance. In addition, organizational perspective on HRD was expected to moderate between investment in workplace learning and organizational outcomes of workplace learning. The current study utilized nationally-representative datasets from the 2005 and 2007 HCCP surveys in South Korea to examine these relationships specified in the model at organizational level. In addition, the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results showed a significantly positive relationship between investment in workplace learning and organizational outcomes of workplace learning. The current research also found a significantly positive relationship between organizational outcomes of workplace learning and organizational performance. In addition, the mediating effects of organizational outcomes of workplace learning were identified between investment in workplace learning and organizational performance. However, the moderating effect of organizational perspective on HRD did not exist in the relationship between investment in workplace learning and organizational outcomes of workplace learning. Moreover, this study compared two groups, manufacturing industry and non-manufacturing industry, to determine whether the conceptual model proposed in this study was the same for both the manufacturing industry and the non-manufacturing industry, using multiple-group SEM models. The results showed that there was a statistical difference in terms of the fit in the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Prof. Ronald Jacobs (Advisor); Prof. Joshua Hawley (Committee Member); Prof. Richard Lomax (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Vocational Education

Master of Science, Miami University, 2023, Computer Science and Software Engineering

Software models are used to analyze and understand the properties of the system, providing stakeholders with an overview of how the system should work before actually implementing it. Such models are usually created informally, such as drawing sketches on a whiteboard or paper, especially during the early design phase, because these methods foster communication and collaboration among stakeholders. However, these informal sketches must be formalized to be useful in later applications, such as analysis, code generation, and documentation. This formalization process is often tedious, error-prone, and time-consuming. In an effort to avoid recreating formal models from scratch, this thesis presents SkeMo, a sketch-based software modeling tool. SkeMo is built on a CNN-based image classifier using 3000 input sketches of class diagram components and integrated into the functionality of an existing web-based model editor, the Instructional Modeling Language (IML), with a newly implemented touch interface. SkeMo was evaluated using a ten-fold cross-validation to assess the image classifier and through a user study involving 20 participants to collect metrics and feedback. The results demonstrate the promising potential of sketch-based modeling as an intuitive and efficient modeling practice, allowing users to quickly and easily create models to design complex software systems.

Committee: Eric Rapos (Advisor); Christopher Vendome (Committee Member); Xianglong Feng (Committee Member); Douglas Troy (Committee Member) Subjects: Computer Science; Engineering

Bachelor of Science (BS), Ohio University, 2022, Mathematics

The increasing scale and complexity of mathematics brings with it concerns on how to efficiently validate new results. Proof assistants offer a compelling solution, but the task of formalizing results in these languages often requires immense effort and practice. Autoformalization attempts to address this by automatically translating informal proofs into a formal language, generally a proof assistant. This report pro- poses and evaluates a set of neural encoder-decoder models based on the Transformer architecture for the task of autoformalization. We create a dataset of mathematical proofs typeset in LaTeX with paired programs written in the Coq proof assistant for training and evaluation. To our knowledge, this is the first report to test performance on full proofs. Additionally, we extend our approach to proofs about program correctness, which is currently unexplored in the literature. Experimental results show that our models perform well on our selected data and are able to generalize to lengths not seen during training.

Committee: David Juedes (Advisor) Subjects: Computer Science; Mathematics

Doctor of Education, Miami University, 2020, Educational Leadership

The purpose of this study was to gain an in depth understanding of transformational teacher leaders within the structure of a learning organization and how they narrated their experiences as leaders within that organizational structure. Although teacher leadership is woven into the frameworks of educational policy and school reform, there is a lack of research focused on understanding the experiences of transformational teacher leaders both individually and collectively in educational settings. This narrative study explored how five transformational teachers in formal leadership positions shared their experiences as leaders through the theoretical framework of role theory. The teacher leaders were encouraged to recount their experiences through a series of interviews and observations to develop an understanding of the role of the teacher within the learning organization. The role of teacher leader is explored through their relationships and interactions with peers, as well as the collective experiences and shared realities of transformational leaders within the organization. The themes assimilated and lessons learned from the collective narratives were the collective pathways to leadership; definition and evolution of leadership style; roles, boundaries and authority; collective struggles of leadership; and shared realities for future teacher leaders. The findings from this narrative study are crucial to help school administrators grasp how to engage, cultivate, and sustain current and future transformational teacher leaders.

Committee: Lucian Szlizewski (Committee Chair); Joel Malin (Committee Member); Sheri Leafgren (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2020, Cross-Cultural, International Education

As the student population in Minnesota continues to diversify, the school environment increasingly does not reflect student needs. In Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs, there is often an English as a New Language (ENL) track in which adults may participate. ABE students range from Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE) to students with advanced degrees from their country of origin. The dearth and aging body of ENL ABE research concerning overarching student perceptions has led to the following research questions I examine in this study: 1) How do low level English as a New Language adult Latino immigrant students experience their own learning? 2) How do these participants teach others in the community and their family? I use a combination of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) (Kinloch, 2017) and Cultural Capital Theory (Bourdieu, 1986) as a framework to analyze the perceptions of participants. I collected data from nine individual interviews with Mexican and Ecuadorian low level ENL students enrolled in an urban ABE program in Minnesota. I coded the data to examine common themes from the interviews. The data suggests adult Latino low-level ENL learners use and exchange their capital to access linguistic capital for different outcomes including agency, assimilation and personal fulfillment. Participants reported they teach others while seeking an outcome of building linguistic capital for their children, gaining United States school-cultural capital, and/or agency. Mediating factors such as gender, psychological factors, seeking different capital influenced this exchange process for participants.

Committee: Bruce Collet Ph.D. (Advisor); Christy Galletta Horner Ph.D. (Committee Member); Timothy Murnen Ph.D (Committee Member); Megan Strom Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Education; English As A Second Language

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2015, College of Education

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore and conceptualize how teacher leaders are trained, developed, and supported both formally and informally to be effective in their roles. The study furthered examined teachers perceptions of the Ohio teacher leader endorsement and its' impact on them as teacher leaders. The study was conducted in an urban and suburban school district located in central Ohio. The eight teachers were selected to participate in the study because they held the Ohio teacher leader endorsement and work as teacher leaders in either a formal or informal role in their district. Five themes emerged from this study: (a) Formal training and support is essential for teacher leaders and can provide teachers with credibility among their colleagues, (b) Teacher leaders in both formal and informal roles are necessary to impact change in their organization, (c) Formal teacher leaders can lead from the classroom, (d) Informal support for teacher leaders, and (e) Stronger connections between statewide initiatives and the work of teacher leaders are necessary for educators to make sense out of the work of teacher leaders.

Committee: Judy Alston PhD (Committee Chair); Belinda Gimbert PhD (Committee Member); Ann Shelly PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership; Teacher Education

PHD, Kent State University, 2013, College of the Arts / School of Music, Hugh A. Glauser

Choro is a traditional Brazilian music that began in Rio de Janeiro during the latter half of the nineteenth century. A virtuosic instrumental music, choro developed through Brazilian interpretations of European dance genres, especially polka and waltz. Participation by both amateur and professional musicians characterizes choro's traditional pedagogy, a reflection of informal and formal learning processes and contexts. At the turn of the twenty-first century, choro schools now offer venues for defining and validating the tradition as well as inspiring an atmosphere for innovation and creation. Inherent within the concept of tradition is the dichotomy of continuity and change. This study exposes how institutions negotiate the past and present through a comparison of current and historic pedagogy and modes of learning. Choro institutions use traditional and innovative modes of learning to support and enhance the genre's current practice through community organization, which sustains and contributes to its continued performance. Chapter one focuses on defining choro music, first discussing the etymology of the word “choro,” followed by a survey of choro's history and review of choro literature. The chapter concludes with an explanation of this investigation's purpose. In chapter two I posit the notion that a music community practices and performs choro. Biographies and stories of choro's past and present community members reveal how they learned choro. The chapter ends with an analysis of the processes that establish and reinforce the community. Chapter three examines how people learn choro. I offer prevailing learning perspectives—acquisition, participation, and knowledge creation—and establish categories for modes of learning—formal, non-formal, and informal—to define the processes and contexts involved in learning choro. Chapter four discusses the musical codes that characterize choro, what the choro community describes as a musical language. The chapter (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kazadi Mukuna PHD (Committee Chair); Theodore Albrecht PHD (Committee Member); Thomas Janson PHD (Committee Member); Richard Washbourne PHD (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology; Music; Music Education; Pedagogy